MetaFilter posts tagged with Iraqhttp://www.metafilter.com/tags/Iraq
Posts tagged with 'Iraq' at MetaFilter.Wed, 25 Feb 2015 17:42:58 -0800Wed, 25 Feb 2015 17:42:58 -0800en-ushttp://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss60"You must be Eddie"http://www.metafilter.com/147363/You%2Dmust%2Dbe%2DEddie
<a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/day-chris-kyle-died-text-777380?utm_source=twitter">The day Chris Kyle died</a> - an account of the fateful gun range encounter between the subject of the film "American Sniper" and fellow veteran Eddie Ray Routh.
Routh has received a life sentence for killing Kyle and freind Chad Littlefield, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/feb/25/american-sniper-trial-jury-eddie-ray-routh-ptsd-excuse">with a jury finding his claims of PTSD to be "an excuse"</a>. tag:metafilter.com,2015:site.147363Wed, 25 Feb 2015 17:42:58 -0800Artw“...I am presently too much a part of the news...”http://www.metafilter.com/146843/I%2Dam%2Dpresently%2Dtoo%2Dmuch%2Da%2Dpart%2Dof%2Dthe%2Dnews
<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/08/business/brian-williams-to-take-leave-from-nbc-nightly-news.html?hp&amp;action=click&amp;pgtype=Homepage&amp;module=first-column-region&amp;region=top-news&amp;WT.nav=top-news">Brian Williams, Under Scrutiny, Will Take Leave From ‘NBC Nightly News’ <small>[New York Times]</small></a> <blockquote>Brian Williams, acknowledging that the scrutiny and criticism he was attracting was becoming a distraction for his network, said on Saturday that he was stepping aside as anchor of NBC’s “Nightly News” for the next several days.</blockquote> Mr. Williams has been under pressure after <a href="http://www.stripes.com/news/us/soldiers-offer-eyewitness-accounts-of-the-brian-williams-chinook-story-1.328256">veterans questioned his account</a> of an incident involving two US helicopters that came under fire in Iraq in 2003. Reporting from New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina has also subsequently been called into question.
Regarding the events in Iraq, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33RSg9CBtUY">Williams apologised on air</a> on Wednesday, saying: “I made a mistake in recalling the events of 12 years ago. I want to apologise. I said I was traveling in an aircraft that was hit by RPG fire. I was instead in a following aircraft.”
<a href="http://press.nbcnews.com/2015/02/07/a-personal-note-from-brian-williams/">A Personal Note from Brian Williams:</a>
<blockquote>"In the midst of a career spent covering and consuming news, it has become painfully apparent to me that I am presently too much a part of the news, due to my actions. As Managing Editor of NBC Nightly News, I have decided to take myself off of my daily broadcast for the next several days, and Lester Holt has kindly agreed to sit in for me to allow us to adequately deal with this issue. Upon my return, I will continue my career-long effort to be worthy of the trust of those who place their trust in us."</blockquote>
<a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/07/us-media-brianwilliams-idUSKBN0LA2FT20150207">NBC to investigate anchor Williams' Iraq war reporting:</a>
<blockquote>"In an internal memo, NBC News President Deborah Turness told staffers that a team would gather the facts about the incident in which Williams, 55, falsely said he was in a U.S. Army helicopter that was hit and forced down by an RPG. "This has been a difficult few days for all of us at NBC News," she said. "As you would expect, we have a team dedicated to gathering the facts to help us make sense of all that has transpired."</blockquote> tag:metafilter.com,2015:site.146843Sun, 08 Feb 2015 07:47:25 -0800Fizz"disorder ... is cheap to create, but very costly to prevent"http://www.metafilter.com/146602/disorder%2Dis%2Dcheap%2Dto%2Dcreate%2Dbut%2Dvery%2Dcostly%2Dto%2Dprevent
<a href="http://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/the-galula-doctrine-an-interview-with-galulas-biographer-aa-cohen">The Galula Doctrine</a>: An Interview with Galula's Biographer <a href="http://www.journal.forces.gc.ca/vol13/no4/page78-eng.asp">A.A. Cohen</a>, who wrote <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=dB-V1emyK9QC&lpg=PR4&ots=46fsafC0SE&dq=aa%20cohen%20galula&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false">Galula: The Life And Writings of the French Officer Who Defined Counterinsurgency</a>, and an <a href="http://abcclio.blogspot.com/2012/08/an-excerpt-from-galula-life-and.html">excerpt</a>. David Galula is a popular subject: <a href="http://www.st-cyr.terre.defense.gouv.fr/index.php/fre/Centre-de-recherche-des-ecoles-de-Saint-Cyr-Coetquidan/Les-publications/Synopsis/La-page-du-groupe-Synopsis/Le-groupe-Synopsis/Gregor-Mathias">Gr&#0233;gor Mathias</a> wrote <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=FgfQzGtK_iQC&lpg=PR4&ots=fBzDG1Kc9I&dq=gregor%20mathias%20galula&pg=PR4#v=onepage&q&f=false">Galula in Algeria: Counterinsurgency Practice Versus Theory</a>, with the <a href="http://kingsofwar.org.uk/2011/11/gregor-mathias/">forward</a>, is reviewed in <a href="http://tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/books/87345/native-son">Tablet</a> by <a href="http://www.hudson.org/experts/602-ann-marlowe">Ann Marlowe</a>, author of <a href="http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pdffiles/PUB1016.pdf">David Galula: His Life And Intellectual Context</a>[PDF], and also reviewed by <a href="http://smallwarsjournal.com/author/mike-few">Mike Few</a> in <a href="http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/deconstructing-galula">Deconstructing Galula</a>.
<a href="http://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/MG478-1.html">Pacification in Algeria</a>[<a href="http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/monographs/2006/RAND_MG478-1.pdf">PDF</a>], by Galula from RAND.
<a href="http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/pros-and-cons-on-galula-model">Pros and Cons of the Galula Model</a>
<a href="http://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/david-galula-frantz-fanon-and-the-imperfect-lessons-of-the-algerian-war">David Galula, Frantz Fanon, and the Imperfect Lessons of the Algerian War</a>
<a href="http://foreignpolicy.com/2013/05/30/cage-match-in-a-cornfield-g-gentile-wrestles-j-nagl-on-counterinsurgency/">Cage match in a cornfield: G. Gentile wrestles J. Nagl on counterinsurgency</a>
<a href="http://foreignpolicy.com/2013/06/04/gentile-if-we-listen-to-a-a-cohen-and-j-nagl-well-wind-up-involved-in-syria/">Gentile: If we listen to A.A. Cohen and J. Nagl, we’ll wind up involved in Syria</a>
Abu Muqawama: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130919233420/http://www.cnas.org/blogs/abumuqawama/2013/08/i-cant-get-no-military-satisfaction.html">I Can't Get No (Military) Satisfaction</a> - "The counterinsurgency debate very much resembles the protracted, indecisive wars that spawned it."
title from Galula's <i>Counterinsurgency Warfare: Theory and Practice</i>[<a href="http://louisville.edu/armyrotc/files/Galula%20David%20-%20Counterinsurgency%20Warfare.pdf">PDF</a>, <a href="http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/milreview/galula_revisited.pdf">reviewed</a>, <a href="http://fabiusmaximus.com/2012/02/25/35745/">reviewed</a>], via James Fallow's <a href="http://m.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2005/12/why-iraq-has-no-army/304428/">Why Iraq Has No Army</a>, <i>The Atlantic</i> 2005 tag:metafilter.com,2015:site.146602Fri, 30 Jan 2015 14:24:07 -0800the man of twists and turnsFollow the trend lines, not the headlines.http://www.metafilter.com/145789/Follow%2Dthe%2Dtrend%2Dlines%2Dnot%2Dthe%2Dheadlines
How can we get a less hyperbolic assessment of the state of the world? Certainly not from daily journalism. News is about things that happen, not things that don’t happen. We never see a reporter saying to the camera, “Here we are, live from a country where a war has not broken out”—or a city that has not been bombed, or a school that has not been shot up. As long as violence has not vanished from the world, there will always be enough incidents to fill the evening news. And since the human mind estimates probability by the ease with which it can recall examples, <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/foreigners/2014/12/the_world_is_not_falling_apart_the_trend_lines_reveal_an_increasingly_peaceful.single.html">newsreaders will always perceive that they live in dangerous times.</a> tag:metafilter.com,2015:site.145789Fri, 02 Jan 2015 04:11:19 -0800ellieBOAover their charred ashes / scattered on the horizonhttp://www.metafilter.com/145679/over%2Dtheir%2Dcharred%2Dashes%2Dscattered%2Don%2Dthe%2Dhorizon
<a href="http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/20369/badr-shakir-al-sayyab_fifty-years-on">The great Iraqi poet Badr Shakir al-Sayyab died fifty years ago today, on December 24, 1964.</a> During his short life, Sayyab changed the language and form of Arabic poetry for good: in part, by breaking centuries' old meters and remaking the rhythms of verse; in part, by engaging intensely with a number of traditions and world literatures at the same time; and always, by engaging with the political, cultural and social dynamics of the moment he lived in. During his early years, Sayyab carried on a lively conversation with a long line of Arab poets that had come before him. During the 1950s, he grappled with the form of modern English poetry and translated it into an idiom that was personal but also resonated with the demands of his critics and poet peers. Similarly, Sayyab was probably T. S. Eliot's most profound interlocutor in any language.
Sayyab's life was never easy and his voice was always independent, albeit sometimes quite frustrated. As a member of the Iraqi Communist Party, he was imprisoned during the late 1940s. His subsequent career as a teacher suffered because of this youthful activism. Later, during the early post-independence republic, he came into conflict with officials on account of his pan-Arab and staunch anti-socialist views. Again, his career in Iraq suffered. Fortunately, he found an audience in the poetic circles of Beirut and beyond. During the last years of his life, his work began to find recognition across the Arab world, even as he waged a painful, futile battle against ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease). The experience of despair and loss pervades his later poems and letters. In elegy to him, we present them to you here together.
Terri DeYoung translates <a href="http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/20362/badr-shakir-al-sayyab_three-letters">letters</a> from Sayyab to Suhayl Idris, Yusuf al-Khal and Adunis, and one of Sayyab's last major poems, "<a href="http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/20363/badr-shakir-al-sayyab_the-balcony-of-the-noblemans">The Balcony of the Nobleman's Daughter</a>."
Levi Thompson translates "<a href="http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/20361/badr-shakir-al-sayyab_the-poem-and-the-phoenix">The Poem and the Phoenix</a>."
Sinan Antoon translates "<a href="http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/20359/al-sayyab_two-poems">The River and Death" and "The Book of Job</a>" (1).
And finally, two translations of Sayyab's last poem, "<a href="http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/20368/badr-shakir-al-sayyab_crutch-in-hell">Crutch in Hell.</a>" tag:metafilter.com,2014:site.145679Sun, 28 Dec 2014 16:55:45 -0800standardasparagusBook-selling on Mutanabbi Street: texts from vital sidewalkshttp://www.metafilter.com/145197/Book%2Dselling%2Don%2DMutanabbi%2DStreet%2Dtexts%2Dfrom%2Dvital%2Dsidewalks
Al-Mutanabbi is an open book, bearing symbols that are deeply etched into the body of today’s Baghdad. <a href="http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/book-selling-mutanabbi-street-texts-vital-sidewalks">The street has no endpoint.</a> It does not start from Rasheed Street and end at the statue of Abu Tayeb al-Mutanabbi – after whom the street was named – or at the Tigris River. It is a text that carries names, memories, and accounts scattered along the ground or on the wooden stands that cover the most famous pavements in the Iraqi capital. As you walk onto the street, you see stacks of books carrying familiar titles, and others with odd titles you would not expect to find every Friday morning. Frequent visitors of the street come from al-Karkh, Rusafa, and other provinces of Iraq to find valuable book editions. They are attracted by the sounds of vendors: a book for 1,000 or 2,000 Iraqi dinars (less than $2). For these sellers, the books are no more than a business deal or transaction. The writings on old cloth banners or empty flour bags they use to separate their goods are of no relevance to them. tag:metafilter.com,2014:site.145197Tue, 09 Dec 2014 17:41:40 -0800standardasparagusHow to Defeat the Islamic Statehttp://www.metafilter.com/144837/How%2Dto%2DDefeat%2Dthe%2DIslamic%2DState
<a href="https://medium.com/@blake_hall/how-to-defeat-the-islamic-state-de18b0a18354">How to Defeat the Islamic State.</a> "Over the last thirteen years, America’s foreign policy has consisted mostly of defining what we don’t want: Saddam, Al-Qaida, Qaddafi, Boko Haram, the Islamic State. But we have failed to define what we do want. Rather than pausing to define the ultimate aim of our involvement – the very point of war for military action is just a means to a political end – we have rushed ahead anyway: Ready, Shoot, Aim. Unfortunately, we now have quite the track record of removing one monster only to find a more brutal monster in his place.
This global war will never end without a coherent American strategy and we don’t have one for Iraq and Syria at the time of this writing.
[...]
To defeat the Islamic State and to further American interests, the United States must create a legitimate secular, political alternative for Iraq’s Sunnis." tag:metafilter.com,2014:site.144837Wed, 26 Nov 2014 02:04:31 -0800Golden EternityAccording to one senior official, “He wasn’t up to the job.”http://www.metafilter.com/144791/According%2Dto%2Done%2Dsenior%2Dofficial%2DHe%2Dwasnt%2Dup%2Dto%2Dthe%2Djob
President Obama will announce <a href="http://www.vox.com/2014/11/24/7275177/chuck-hagel-resigns-defense">today</a> that Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel is submitting his resignation. According to the <em>New York Times</em>, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/25/us/hagel-said-to-be-stepping-down-as-defense-chief-under-pressure.html?_r=0">"The officials described Mr. Obama’s decision to remove Mr. Hagel, 68, as a recognition that the threat from the Islamic State would require a different kind of skills than those that Mr. Hagel was brought on to employ."</a> <a href="http://www.nationaljournal.com/defense/defense-secretary-chuck-hagel-is-reportedly-leaving-the-obama-administration-20141124">"Aside from the anonymous officials quoted by the Times, CBS reports that Hagel was "fed up with micromanagement from the White House," while the administration was peeved that Hagel wasn't "a vocal defender of the administration's policies."</a>
Secretary Hagel was i<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/chuck-hagel-thinks-dod-budget-cuts-could-cost-the-us-its-military-supremacy-2014-11">nterviewed on November 20th by Charlie Rose.</a>
<a href="http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/defense-secretary-chuck-hagel-step-down">Hagel will remain as Defense Secretary until his replacement is confirmed by the United States Senate. This would be the second major confirmation the White House is seeking from a Republican controlled Congress: A new nominee for attorney general is also pending.</a> tag:metafilter.com,2014:site.144791Mon, 24 Nov 2014 07:11:53 -0800roomthreeseventeenHuman trafficking in Iraq and Afghanistan, paid for by US tax dollarshttp://www.metafilter.com/144541/Human%2Dtrafficking%2Din%2DIraq%2Dand%2DAfghanistan%2Dpaid%2Dfor%2Dby%2DUS%2Dtax%2Ddollars
<em><a href="http://www.newrepublic.com/article/120269/contractors-violate-us-zero-tolerance-policy-human-trafficking">"We protect women and children, but these are dark-skinned men.... "</a></em> <em>It is not surprising that labor trafficking is seen as a lesser evil than sex trafficking. The argument often goes: </em>Is it really so bad to charge a worker in India a one-time fee in exchange for a job overseas with higher wages than he could find in his own country?<em> But recruitment fees essentially create a system of indentured servitude. Workers usually take out high-interest loans in their home country to pay the fee, and the payments can trap them in their new jobs. Recruiters often mislead workers about their salary and the location of their job—promises of high-paying jobs in Jordanian hotels turn into custodial positions on U.S. military bases in warzones.
"The government says it has a zero tolerance policy, and yet there’s fairly credible allegations that these guys have been involved in trafficking and they continue to win government contracts,” says Steven Watt, a human rights attorney at the ACLU. “It’s pretty far from a zero tolerance policy.”
McCahon is more blunt: “<strong>This is the only situation in which the government uses U.S. tax dollars to fund human trafficking,” he says. “It’s not that we’re idly sitting by; we’re actively paying for it.</strong> It’s like the U.S. government is the John, telling the pimp, ‘We need bodies here, but we aren’t going to look at how you got them, or if they are even getting paid.’” . . .
He cited one case where an Indian college graduate named Ramesh paid $5,000 upfront to an agent who promised an $800 per month salary to work for a U.S. contractor in Iraq. Once in Iraq, he was only offered $150 per month, but took the job because he felt he had no other choice. When the loan shark became dissatisfied with the repayment rate, he sexually assaulted Ramesh’s sister. His sister hung herself and his mother fell into a state of shock. When Ramesh returned home to India, he and his surviving family members poisoned themselves.
While labor trafficking is clearly a human rights issue, McCahon is quick to point out that recruitment fees are also procurement fraud. Under the current contract, Dyncorp and Fluor pay Ecolog to bring them a specified number of workers. The contractors assume responsibility for transporting and housing their workers and are reimbursed by the government for the associated costs. “So if a subcontractor brings over 8,000 workers, and each worker comes with a $2,500 recruitment fee, that’s a $20 million black money kickback,” explained McCahon. “This is the largest contract fraud in the history of reconstruction.” <strong>The Army reimburses Dyncorp and Fluor</strong> for all of their allowable costs, plus 3 to 6 percent of their costs as profit—so <strong>the higher the costs, the higher the profit</strong> . . .
No contractor has ever been disciplined for a trafficking violation under the current Federal Acquisition Regulation, the set of rules for government purchases of goods and services. This means that even though there has been evidence of contractors violating anti-trafficking rules, <strong>there is no official negative past performance record, so they continue to be eligible to receive top-dollar government contracts.</strong></em>
That article from The New Republic gives you 9 more links with background information about human trafficking by US government contractors, including <a href="https://www.aclu.org/files/assets/hrp_traffickingreport_web_0.pdf">this 98-page ACLU report from 2012</a> (not 2011, as the article says) which "aims to provide a comprehensive account of the ongoing trafficking, deceptive recruitment, forced labor and abuse of TCNs [third-country nationals] serving under U.S. Government contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan."</a> (PDF link.)
Metafilter has been following this issue for a decade now: <a href="http://www.metafilter.com/104820/The-Invisible-Army">2011</a>, <a href="http://www.metafilter.com/47206/Sierra-Leonese-Paid-050-an-Hour-in-Iraq">2005</a>, and <a href="http://www.metafilter.com/47873/Pentagon-has-yet-to-ban-contractors-from-using-forced-labor">another from 2005</a>. tag:metafilter.com,2014:site.144541Sun, 16 Nov 2014 14:16:07 -0800John CohenA lieutenant general's op-ed about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistanhttp://www.metafilter.com/144380/A%2Dlieutenant%2Dgenerals%2Dop%2Ded%2Dabout%2Dthe%2Dwars%2Din%2DIraq%2Dand%2DAfghanistan
Lieutenant General Daniel P. Bolger, recently retired from 35 years in the US Army, reflects on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/11/opinion/the-truth-about-the-wars-in-iraq-and-afghanistan.html">"As a general, I got it wrong."</a> tag:metafilter.com,2014:site.144380Mon, 10 Nov 2014 22:39:22 -0800paleyellowwithorangeJury convicts Blackwater guards in 2007 Iraq deathshttp://www.metafilter.com/143825/Jury%2Dconvicts%2DBlackwater%2Dguards%2Din%2D2007%2DIraq%2Ddeaths
<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/verdict-expected-in-blackwater-shooting-case/2014/10/22/5a488258-59fc-11e4-bd61-346aee66ba29_story.html">Seven years after American security contractors killed 14 unarmed Iraqis by firing machine guns and grenades into a Baghdad traffic circle,</a> a jury in Washington on Wednesday convicted all four Blackwater Worldwide guards charged in the incident on at least some of the charges. tag:metafilter.com,2014:site.143825Wed, 22 Oct 2014 09:32:33 -0800Johnny Wallflower“ 'Nothing of significance’ is what I was ordered to say,”http://www.metafilter.com/143621/%2DNothing%2Dof%2Dsignificance%2Dis%2Dwhat%2DI%2Dwas%2Dordered%2Dto%2Dsay
<blockquote>"The United States had gone to war declaring it must destroy an active weapons of mass destruction program. Instead, American troops gradually found and ultimately suffered from the remnants of long-abandoned programs, built in close collaboration with the West."</blockquote>
<br>
- <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/10/14/world/middleeast/us-casualties-of-iraq-chemical-weapons.html?_r=0">The Secret Casualties of Iraq's Abandoned Chemical Weapons</a> <small>(SLNYT)</small> <blockquote>"The discoveries of these chemical weapons did not support the government’s invasion rationale."</blockquote> tag:metafilter.com,2014:site.143621Wed, 15 Oct 2014 10:20:30 -0800feckless fecal fear mongeringThe zeal these young men have for killing surprises me.http://www.metafilter.com/143066/The%2Dzeal%2Dthese%2Dyoung%2Dmen%2Dhave%2Dfor%2Dkilling%2Dsurprises%2Dme
"Many Marines I talk to are skeptical of the aims used to justify the war - fighting terrorism, getting weapons of mass destruction (which they never see). Quite a few accept that this war was probably fought for oil." <a href="http://longform.org/stories/the-killer-elite">'The Killer Elite', Evan Wright's coverage of a US Marine Corps Battalion in the 2003 Iraq War</a> (later developed into the book and TV series <em>Generation Kill</em>). <ul>
<li>"We've been brainwashed and trained for combat. We must say 'Kill!' 3,000 times a day in boot camp. That's why it's easy."</li>
<li>"Deep down inside I want to know what it feels like to get shot."</li>
<li>"Combat is the supreme adrenaline rush. You take rounds. Shoot back, shit starts blowing up. It's sensory overload. It's the one thing that's not overrated in the military."</li>
<li>"Whatever last shred of humanity I had before I came here, it's gone."</li>
<li>"These people live like hell. The U.S. should just go into all these countries here and in Africa, and set up a U.S. government and infrastructure - with McDonald's, Starbucks, MTV - then just hand it over. If we have to kill 100,000 to save 20 million, it's worth it. Hell, the U.S. did it at home for 200 years - killed Indians, used slaves, exploited immigrant labor to build a system that's good for everybody&#0160;today."</li>
</ul> tag:metafilter.com,2014:site.143066Thu, 25 Sep 2014 15:38:55 -0800paleyellowwithorangeAlone on the Hillhttp://www.metafilter.com/142991/Alone%2Don%2Dthe%2DHill
<a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/09/the-vindication-of-barbara-lee/380084/?single_page=true/">Angry Letters to the One Member of Congress Who Voted Against the War on Terror</a> <blockquote>Perhaps the most remarkable thing about Lee's story is how little credit she or her constituents receive for what they got right. Even though a majority now considers the war most understood the AUMF to authorize to be a mistake; even though it has been used to justify military interventions that no one conceived of on September 14, 2001; even though there's no proof that any war-making of the last 13 years has have made us safer; even though many more Americans have died in wars of choice than have been killed in terrorist attacks; even though Lee and many of her constituents were amenable to capturing or killing the 9/11 perpetrators, not pacifists intent on ruling out any use of force; despite all of that, Representative Lee is still thought of as a fringe peacenik representing naive East Bay hippies who could never be trusted to guide U.S. foreign policy. And the people who utterly failed to anticipate the trajectory of the War on Terrorism? Even those who later voted for a war in Iraq that turned out to be among the most catastrophic in U.S. history are considered sober, trustworthy experts.</blockquote> September 20th, 2001, <i>Mother Jones</i>: <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2001/09/alone-hill">Alone On The Hill - Self-described 'Army brat' Barbara Lee explains why she cast Congress' only vote against giving the president a free hand to attack suspected terrorists.</a>
<i>Lawfare</i>: <a href="http://www.lawfareblog.com/wiki/the-lawfare-wiki-document-library/post-911-era-materials/post-911-era-materials-legislative-materials/authorization-for-use-of-military-force/">Authorization for Use of Military Force 2001</a> tag:metafilter.com,2014:site.142991Tue, 23 Sep 2014 08:28:20 -0800the man of twists and turnsFrom Camera As Torture Device To Camera As Restorer Of Humanityhttp://www.metafilter.com/142959/From%2DCamera%2DAs%2DTorture%2DDevice%2DTo%2DCamera%2DAs%2DRestorer%2DOf%2DHumanity
<a href="https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/09/18/detainees-portaits">"There is not one person in prison in Iraq who has not been subjected to some kind of abuse."</a> "I want people to consider, what if that happened to your family member?" Selected portraits of Iraqi victims of US torture. Their faces and their stories, since they are so much more than just statistics or footnotes to long-forgotten articles. tag:metafilter.com,2014:site.142959Mon, 22 Sep 2014 07:38:32 -0800blankdawnSurviving an ISIS Massacrehttp://www.metafilter.com/142478/Surviving%2Dan%2DISIS%2DMassacre
Ali Hussein Kadhim, the only known survivor out of hundreds of an ISIS massacre outside of Tikrit in Iraq, tells his story. Ali, a Shi'a, was saved only by the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/04/world/middleeast/surviving-isis-massacre-iraq-video.html?_r=0">kindness of people in the Sunni neighborhood around him.</a> <strong>TW (violence): First video in link is an interview with Ali and includes footage of soldiers being shot.</strong> tag:metafilter.com,2014:site.142478Thu, 04 Sep 2014 10:48:37 -0800zugA new and terrifying state has been born.http://www.metafilter.com/142251/A%2Dnew%2Dand%2Dterrifying%2Dstate%2Dhas%2Dbeen%2Dborn
Patrick Cockburn a Middle East correspondent since 1979 has a couple of new articles: <br>
<a href="http://www.lrb.co.uk/v36/n16/patrick-cockburn/isis-consolidates">Isis consolidates</a> and The Underrated Saudi Connection, <a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175884/tomgram%3A_patrick_cockburn%2C_how_to_ensure_a_thriving_caliphate">Why Washington’s War on Terror Failed.</a> tag:metafilter.com,2014:site.142251Tue, 26 Aug 2014 15:13:17 -0800adamvascoIsis claims to have beheaded an American journalist missing in Syriahttp://www.metafilter.com/142048/Isis%2Dclaims%2Dto%2Dhave%2Dbeheaded%2Dan%2DAmerican%2Djournalist%2Dmissing%2Din%2DSyria
<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/19/james-wright-foley-beheaded-isis-video">Video has emerged showing the beheading of journalist James Foley.</a> James Foley has been reportedly beheaded by Isis in retaliation for US airstrikes in Iraq. He was working in Syria when he was reported missing in 2012. James Foley has been reportedly beheaded by Isis in retaliation for US airstrikes in Iraq. He was working in Syria when he was reported missing in 2012.
<a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/2e0p4b/us_journalist_james_foley_beheaded_by_isis/cjux6kv">Full transcript of video</a>:
VIDEO OPENS WITH A SPEECH BY PRESIDENT OBAMA ABOUT THE ISLAMIC STATE
JAMES FOLEY: I call on my friends, family, and loved ones to rise up against my real killers, the US government. For what will happen to me is only a result of their complacency and criminality.
My message to my beloved parents, save me some dignity, and don't accept some meagre compensation, for my death, from the same people who effectively hit the last nail in my coffin with their recent aerial campaign in Iraq.
I call on my brother John, who is a member of the US air force. Think about what you are doing, think about the lives you destroy, including those of your own family. I call on you John, think about who made the decision to bomb Iraq recently and kill those people, whoever they may have been. Think John, who did they really kill? And did they think about me, you, our family when they made that decision?
I died that day John, when your colleagues dropped that bomb on those people they signed my death certificate. I wish I had more time. I wish I could have the hope of freedom and seeing my family once again. But that ship has sailed. I guess all in all I wish I wasn't American.
EXECUTIONER: This is James Wright Foley, an American citizen of your country. As a government, you have been at the forefront of the aggression towards the Islamic State. You have plotted against us and have gone far out of your way to find reasons to interfere in our affairs. Today, your military air force is attacking us daily in Iraq, your strikes have caused casualties among Muslims. You're no longer fighting an insurgency, we are an Islamic army, and a state that has been accepted by large number of Muslims world wide, so effectively, any aggression towards the Islamic State, is aggression towards Muslims from all walks of life who has accepted the Islamic caliphate as their leadership, so any attempt by you Obama to deny the Muslims their rights of living in safety under the Islamic caliphate will result in the bloodshed of your people.
NEW PRISONER SHOWN - CAPTION - Steven Joel Sotloff tag:metafilter.com,2014:site.142048Tue, 19 Aug 2014 16:35:31 -0800lpcxa0Humans of New York World Tour: Iraq and beyondhttp://www.metafilter.com/141801/Humans%2Dof%2DNew%2DYork%2DWorld%2DTour%2DIraq%2Dand%2Dbeyond
If you visit <a href="http://www.humansofnewyork.com/">the Humans of New York website</a> or on the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/humansofnewyork">Facebook page</a> now and in the next few months, you'll find portraits and stories from beyond New York. Brandon Stanton and HONY will be going on a "world tour," to be part of the <a href="http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/advocates/">UN's Millennium Development Goals Advocacy Group</a> effort to raise awareness for the <a href="http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/">eight international Millennium Development Goals with a target date of 2015 </a>. Currently, <a href="http://www.wired.com/2014/08/humans-of-new-york-is-suddenly-a-war-report-from-iraq/">HONY is "suddenly a war report form Iraq"</a>. Previously, <a href="http://www.humansofnewyork.com/post/38682208638/on-travel-to-iran-the-us-government-has-a">Brandon took HONY to Iran</a> for <a href="http://www.humansofnewyork.com/tagged/iran">two weeks in 2012</a>.
Previously on MetaFilter:
<ul><li><a href="http://www.metafilter.com/89777/Final-Stage-Boss-Battle-with-Infant-Mortality">Final Stage Boss Battle with Infant Mortality</a> - in Urgent Evoke, Players take on tasks like the UN Millennium Development Goals (March 4, 2010)
<li>and related: <a href="http://www.metafilter.com/90223/Int-1">Int +1</a> - From TED 2010, Jane McGonigal asks if gaming can help create a better world (March 18, 2010)
<li><a href="http://www.metafilter.com/107284/Broken-Angel-architectural-outsider-art">Broken Angel: architectural outsider art</a> - A profile of Arthur Wood, whose lack of formal training did not prevent him from adding six stories of wild additions to the two-story Brooklyn tenement building he bought for $2,000 in 1971 (on HONY and elsewhere; September 9, 2011)
<li><a href="http://www.metafilter.com/108631/It-takes-some-Sachs-to-raise-a-villiage">It takes some Sachs to raise a villiage</a> - The Millennium Villages, launched in association with the Millennium Development Goals (wiki) adopted by the UN in 2000, recently received a grant of $72 million to continue its work. (October 21, 2011)
<li><a href="http://www.metafilter.com/115442/Ive-met-some-amazing-people-along-the-way">"...I’ve met some amazing people along the way."</a> Mapping the 3,700 street portraits of HONY (April 29, 2012)
<li><a href="http://www.metafilter.com/121058/Meaning-my-size-IS-NONE-OF-YOUR-FUCKING-BUSINESS">Meaning my size, IS NONE OF YOUR FUCKING BUSINESS.</a> Stella provides a self-portrait to share with HONY in place of the street portrait, and she wrote about the picture that is for herself.
<li><a href="http://www.metafilter.com/129083/Blackwolf-the-Dragonmaster">Blackwolf the Dragonmaster</a>, the unofficial wizard of New York, as captured by HONY and other sources (June 14, 2013)<ul></ul></li></li></li></li></li></li></li></ul> tag:metafilter.com,2014:site.141801Sat, 09 Aug 2014 17:47:02 -0800filthy light thiefFrom Abovehttp://www.metafilter.com/141420/From%2DAbove
<a href="http://online.wsj.com/articles/how-the-u-s-stumbled-into-the-drone-era-1406234812?mod=WSJ_hp_EditorsPicks">How the US Stumbled into the Drone Era [WSJ]</a> <em>As ubiquitous as Predators, Reapers, Global Hawks and their ilk may now seem, the U.S. actually stumbled into the drone era. Washington got into the business of using drones for counterterrorism well before 9/11—not out of any steely strategic design or master plan but out of bureaucratic frustration, bickering and a series of only half-intentional decisions.</em> tag:metafilter.com,2014:site.141420Tue, 29 Jul 2014 04:25:45 -0800modernnomadWhat if Homer Simpson smoked weed? It's not that crazy to imagine.http://www.metafilter.com/140741/What%2Dif%2DHomer%2DSimpson%2Dsmoked%2Dweed%2DIts%2Dnot%2Dthat%2Dcrazy%2Dto%2Dimagine
For the <a href="http://www.vice.com/read/this-simpsons-marijuana-twitter-novel-is-strange-and-wonderful">last few</a> weeks, the Twitter account <a href="https://twitter.com/Homer_Marijuana">@Homer_Marijuana</a> has been publishing a bizarre piece of long-form fan fiction about <em>The Simpsons</em>, family, America's wars in the Middle East, and marijuana, vast amounts of all sorts of marijuana. Now, 5,015 tweets later, Marijuana Simpson <a href="http://www.avclub.com/article/somebody-wrote-massive-screenplay-twitter-about-si-206692">has concluded</a>, and is available to read on an easier-to-follow <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/233219778/Marijuana-Simpson">Scribd document</a>. tag:metafilter.com,2014:site.140741Wed, 09 Jul 2014 19:25:03 -0800Small DollarThe wistful specter of what might've been if only he'd been listened tohttp://www.metafilter.com/140401/The%2Dwistful%2Dspecter%2Dof%2Dwhat%2Dmightve%2Dbeen%2Dif%2Donly%2Dhed%2Dbeen%2Dlistened%2Dto
From his time in Cairo, Lawrence was aware of the extravagant promises the British government had made to Hussein in order to raise the Arab Revolt: full independence for virtually the entire Arab world..............His first act of sedition — and by most any standards, a treasonous one — was to inform Faisal of the existence of Sykes-Picot.....<a href="http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/true-story-lawrence-arabia-180951857/?all">The True Story of Lawrence of Arabia
</a><small> . <a href="http://www.metafilter.com/32997/That-was-then">Previously</a> and <a href="http://www.metafilter.com/18584/A-Peace-to-End-All-Peace">Previously</a> </small> tag:metafilter.com,2014:site.140401Tue, 01 Jul 2014 16:18:04 -0800lalocheziaIsis declares caliphate in Iraq and Syriahttp://www.metafilter.com/140357/Isis%2Ddeclares%2Dcaliphate%2Din%2DIraq%2Dand%2DSyria
<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/middle-east-live/2014/jun/30/isis-declares-caliphate-in-iraq-and-syria-live-updates">The militant Sunni group Isis has said it is establishing a caliphate, or Islamic state, in the territories it controls in Iraq and Syria.</a> This is not the first border we will break, we will break other borders," its spokesman warns. Standing on a border sign he threatens to "break the borders" of Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon. <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/30/isis-announces-islamic-caliphate-iraq-syria">Isis, a breakaway group from al-Qaida, is notable for its hardline anti-Shia sectarianism, declaring Shia Muslims and other rivals as heretics that deserve death.</a>
Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, an Isis spokesman, defined the Islamic state's territory as running from northern Syria to the Iraqi province of Diyala north-east of Baghdad, a vast stretch of land straddling the border that is already largely under Isis control. He also said that with the establishment of the caliphate, the group was changing its name to the Islamic State, dropping the mention of Iraq and the Levant.
"The legality of all emirates, groups, states and organisations becomes null by the expansion of the caliph's authority and the arrival of its troops to their areas," he said in an audio statement posted online, AP reported. "Listen to your caliph and obey him. Support your state, which grows every day." tag:metafilter.com,2014:site.140357Mon, 30 Jun 2014 15:16:28 -0800whyareyouatriangleBlackwater threatened to kill State Department investigatorhttp://www.metafilter.com/140336/Blackwater%2Dthreatened%2Dto%2Dkill%2DState%2DDepartment%2Dinvestigator
Just weeks before Blackwater guards fatally shot 17 civilians at Baghdad’s Nisour Square in 2007 <a href="https://www.metafilter.com/66017/License-to-Murder"><small>(Previously on Metafilter)</small></a>, the State Department began investigating the security contractor’s operations in Iraq.<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/30/us/before-shooting-in-iraq-warning-on-blackwater.html"> But the inquiry was abandoned after Blackwater’s top manager there issued a threat: “that he could kill” the government’s chief investigator and “no one could or would do anything about it as we were in Iraq”.</a> Embassy officials ordered the investigators to leave Iraq immediately, and no charges were ever pressed. <em>Mr. Carroll said “that he could kill me at that very moment and no one could or would do anything about it as we were in Iraq,” Mr. Richter wrote in a memo to senior State Department officials in Washington. He noted that Mr. Carroll had formerly served with Navy SEAL Team 6, an elite unit.
“Mr. Carroll’s statement was made in a low, even tone of voice, his head was slightly lowered; his eyes were fixed on mine,” Mr. Richter stated in his memo. “I took Mr. Carroll’s threat seriously. We were in a combat zone where things can happen quite unexpectedly, especially when issues involve potentially negative impacts on a lucrative security contract.”</em> tag:metafilter.com,2014:site.140336Sun, 29 Jun 2014 19:38:15 -0800anemone of the stateBut they hadn't destroyed it.http://www.metafilter.com/139850/But%2Dthey%2Dhadnt%2Ddestroyed%2Dit
<a href="http://www.vox.com/2014/6/11/5800188/who-is-isis-how-they-conquered-mosul">On Tuesday, a group of Islamic militants that were thrown out of al-Qaeda for being too violent took over Iraq's second largest city.</a> The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (abbreviated as ISIS) kicked the Iraqi Army out of Mosul, a wealthy city in northwestern Iraq. Today, ISIS secured another northern city, Tikrit. It currently controls an area "the size of Belgium," according to Jason Lyall, a Yale University political scientist who studies insurgencies. "Right now, the Iraqi government has no answer to the ISIS threat. And a hard look at the reasons behind ISIS' rise and the causes of its current success suggest a grim future for the Iraqi government's efforts to beat back the dangerous militant group.
ISIS used to be known as al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), the leading Islamist extremist group during the Iraq War. AQI controlled significant amounts of Iraqi territory during the war, until the US military and allied Sunni militias famously defeated it during the post-2006 "surge."
But they hadn't destroyed it." tag:metafilter.com,2014:site.139850Wed, 11 Jun 2014 21:12:22 -0800whyareyouatriangle